Page 50 of Sweet Pea

Callie

I followed Sweet Pea to a condo building in the Pearl and couldn’t stop a frown of confusion as we pulled into an underground parking garage. It had been a week of “chumming” around with Sweet Pea whenever we were both free, but it was always at my apartment. Today he surprised me by telling me he wanted to take me to his place for some fun.

Sweet Pea pulled his bike into a parking space and nodded to the one next to it, so I parked there and rolled down my window. “You live here?”

He grinned, removing his helmet and leaning inside my car. “Sort of. Come on. I’ll explain.”

I climbed out of my car and took the hand he held out, then let him lead me to the bank of elevators to the right of our vehicles. We rode up...and up...stopping at the sixteenth floor and he guided me out and to the left. Unlocking the door at the end of the hallway, he stepped back so I could precede him, and I walked inside to total, complete, and utter opulence. “Wow,” I whispered.

The foyer opened to the great room, where floor to ceiling windows overlooked the Willamette River, and a massive island separated the living room from the kitchen. There was a staircase off to the right and a hallway that led to a bathroom, office, and bedroom.

“I can’t even imagine what rent in a place like this would be,” I breathed out.

“I own it,” Sweet Pea said, disappearing into the kitchen.

Right, Kimble money. Of course he owned the building.

“It’s gorgeous,” I said.

“I have something for you,” Sweet Pea said, returning with a square white box with a bright red bow on top.

“You got me a present?” I asked.

“It’s for Ruby, actually,” he said.

I opened the box to find two feeder mice in a plastic carrier.

“An apology gift for being so rude to her when we first met,” he said, with a smile, his dimples on full display.

I never wanted to fuck a man more than I wanted to fuck Sweet Pea at that moment.

“And now you’re wondering why the fuck I keep a room at the Sanctuary, right?”

I tried to soften my expression, but he was right. “Sort of?”

He smiled. “Look, I keep my private life as separate as I can from my club life. If we’re gonna start something, you need to know exactly what you’re in for.”

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